


i'm so glad we're communicating again, i've missed you

by ibelieveinpluto



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Developing Friendships, Friends to Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loss of Parent(s), No beta we die like jschlatt, Post-November 16th, angst with open ending, based on them being in vc together after the war, kind of, my brain short circuited, pranktwt how are we feeling, they can exist side by side, yes its a character study, yes its ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27608026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibelieveinpluto/pseuds/ibelieveinpluto
Summary: after such intense loss, it's amazing there's any hope to hold onto.or, eret says some stupid stuff and it works out for the better.
Relationships: Eret & Floris | Fundy, platonic only lol
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	i'm so glad we're communicating again, i've missed you

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to mari houseofphilza bc i made them cry with the concept im so sorry

It hadn’t been long since Fundy has been in Eret’s castle. He was there not even a week before while he was away to fill the place top to bottom with flamingos - statues of flamingos he had built himself, and being an agent of chaos, he was careful to make each one as weird and unique as the last. It had been fun, running around on a time limit setting up as many flamingos as possible then having to squeeze in between them to get out of the castle before anyone showed up.

Now, he was back, with Eret by his side. Eret. How long had it been since it was just the two of them? Not plotting over a war, or picking up the pieces of a skirmish, just being together as friends?

Fuck. They weren’t friends.

Eret’s betrayal felt like it was a lifetime ago, the overwhelming feeling of rage and hurt he had felt as he watched the only person in L’Manberg who would listen to him leave them all vulnerable to ambush had eventually ebbed away, fading to the corners of his mind and being replaced by schemes to overthrow Schlatt and protecting himself. Since then, they avoided each other. Fundy went out of his way to prank Eret when he could. He always added a particular gusto to “fuck Eret” when his father taught him their anthem. Even then, his pranks were never harmful and there was no meaning behind the words. Despite all of the pain Eret had put him and the country through, he couldn’t fully hate the man. But they weren’t friends, not like they had been before.

They were walking down from the parapet of the castle. Fundy almost felt bad for being there for Eret to say his last goodbye to his home. Then again, something in him told him that they would probably be returning many times after, whenever George and his goons weren’t around. The taller absentmindedly rested his hand on one of the flamingos, basically towering over it.

“Did I ever tell you I liked the flamingos?” His low voice echoed in the spiral staircase, pulling Fundy out of his thoughts. He almost thanked him for that.

“Not to my face, but I heard around that they were a hit.”

“I’m sorry they’re taking them down.”

“It’s fine. They weren’t for George, anyway.”

There was silence after. They kept walking.

Fundy and Eret got along for many reasons - together, they were an unstoppable team. Fundy tried not to grieve that they couldn’t work closer in their spying against Manberg. They were both resourceful and quick-witted, but introverted and quiet. Knowing that, Fundy shouldn’t have been that bothered by the empty silence between them.

They had stolen away to the castle to avoid the chaos of exploring the damage Wilbur caused. Eret hadn’t felt like he needed to be there, the land itself wasn’t something important to him. Fundy didn’t want to be there.

He almost collided with Eret as he stopped at the bottom of the staircase. “Fundy,” he started, then stopped. The fox hybrid noticed he barely went to fix something on his head but hesitated and dropped his hand to his side. It was such a subtle movement, but Fundy picked up he was nervous and went to adjust his now non-existent crown. “Fundy, I - did I do the right thing? Coming back.”

He wasn’t God. He wasn’t even that smart. Fundy couldn’t just tell Eret that he was in the right, that his assistance made them win (if that _mess_ even counted as a win) no matter how bad he wanted to hear it. “I don’t know,” he said, finally, feeling too small.

“I mean,” the other continued, “I’ve lost everything. This isn’t mine anymore. The cat cafe, the museum, who knows what George will do to those, and -”

Fundy’s mouth was moving before he could stop it. “Right, you’ve lost your castle. It’s fucking bricks, dude.”

The ex-king froze. He talked too much when he was nervous, made stupid mistakes. He shouldn’t have relayed to Fundy of all people his losses. “Fundy, I -”

“No, no. Shut up. For two fucking minutes, shut up. You’ve lost everything? _I’ve_ lost everything. My loyalty, my home, my dad -” his voice was breaking and his pitch was rising and it was pathetic and yet he kept going, “Everything I’ve ever wanted was ripped from me in an instant. And you’re sitting here, telling me you have _nothing._ You can make people trust you again, you can prove yourself, you can be king and throw a coup or whatever the hell. Me? I can’t do shit. I’m always going to be the son of some fucking psychopath who destroyed everything he worked for for - for… for no reason.”

“I’m sorry,” Eret said finally, “I wasn’t trying to, to make you feel like I had it worse. I’m not trying to compare.” Under his rage, Fundy’s heart ached, despite not seeing the other’s eyes he saw his eyebrows curved up in concern.

He took in a breath, trying to steady his breathing. His body shook and he was running hot under his skin. “No, whatever, I’m being angry. I’m - I’m being crazy.” The hybrid barked out a laugh. “Like father, like son, right?”

He felt hands on his shoulders. It was an unfamiliar feeling. Under his ebbing fury, Fundy realized just how long it had been since he had been touched at all, not with a sword or arrow or clenched fist.

“Fundy,” Eret spoke slowly, staring down at him. “Are you alright? Truly?”

That was it.

He didn’t cry. He didn’t cry when Eret betrayed them, not when Wilbur lost the election, not on the hot nights when he couldn’t sleep thinking about Niki’s begging cries when he burned down her flag. Not when the ground fell beneath him and he saw Wilbur and some strange man staring back at him from the revealed control room, and definitely not when the sword pierced his father’s chest and he slumped back against one of the only remaining corners of the room.

But someone - not just someone, Eret, someone he used to be best friends with and, God, someone he missed and cared for, was pulling him close to his chest the second a dry sob bubbled out of his throat.

Eret gently led Fundy to sit on the floor, holding him tightly. He let the shorter cry into his chest. It felt alien and familiar at the same time. He had hugged Fundy before, when they were closer he knew from a look that Fundy needed some sort of physical affection. But he had never broken down or even cried in front of him.

Neither of them knew how long they stayed there, or how long they grieved. Eret couldn’t stay strong forever and let himself crush his face into Fundy’s hat to hide his own tears. The latter sniffed loudly, shifting in the embrace. Eret let up his grip for a second, but had second thoughts and held on tighter. “We’ve,” Fundy whispered, interrupted by a shuddering breath, “We’ve lost everything.”

Eret’s voice was quiet and gravelly. It was the most vulnerable he had felt since Dream approached him with that damned proposition, the chance to be king. But that didn’t matter now. He had been met with a better proposition, something unspoken. It was open to him when Fundy accompanied him to his castle, when Fundy allowed himself to be held, when Fundy said “we” instead of “I.”

“We have each other. If you want,” Eret responded slowly. Fundy nodded into his shirt.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in my precalculus class so if its bad. yeah.


End file.
